High-pressure sluice feeders have been used in older conventional feed systems for continuous digesters for the pressurisation and transport of a chips slurry to the top of the digester.
In the Handbook of Pulp (Herbert Sixta, 2006) the principle of this type of feed using high-pressure sluice feeders is shown on Page 381. The major advantage of this type of feed is that the flow of chips does not need to pass through pumps, instead being transferred hydraulically. It is possible at the same time to maintain a high pressure in the transfer flow to and from the digester without losing pressure (experiencing pressure loss). The system, however, suffers from certain disadvantages in that the high-pressure feeder is subject to wear, and must be adjusted such that the leakage flow from the high-pressure circuit to the low-pressure circuit is minimised. A second disadvantage is that the temperature in the transfer must be kept low such that detonations caused by steam implosions do not occur in the transfer.
As early as 1957, U.S. Pat. No. 2,803,540 revealed a feed system for continuous chip digesters in which the chips are pumped from an impregnation vessel to a digester, in which the chips are cooked in a steam atmosphere. The cooking fluid is here added to the pump, in order to obtain a consistency of 10%, which can be pumped. This is a digester suggested for a small-scale production of 150-300 tonnes of pulp per day (see column 7, row 35).
Also U.S. Pat. No. 2,876,098 from 1959 reveals a feed system for a continuous chip digester without a high-pressure sluice feeder. The chips in this case are mixed to a slurry in a mixer before being pumped to the top of the digester by a pump. The pump arrangement is located under the digester, and the pump shaft is provided also with a turbine, through which the pressure is recovered from the pressurised black liquor in order to achieve the required pumping effect.
A feed system for a continuous chip digester without a high-pressure sluice feeder is revealed also in U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,088 from 1967, in which the chips are first pre-treated with steam in a pre-treatment vessel, and then formed to a slurry in a vessel, before the chips suspension is pumped to the top of the digester.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,586,600 from 1971 reveals a further feed system for a continuous digester principally intended to be used with fine wood material. Also in this case a high-pressure sluice feeder is not used, and the wood material is fed by a pump 26 through an upstream impregnation vessel to the top of the digester.
Corresponding pumping of fine wood material to the top of a continuous digester is revealed also in EP157279.
What is typical for these suggested digester plants from the late 1950s until the beginning of the 1970s is that they are intended for small digester plants with a limited capacity of around 100-300 tonnes of pulp per day.
A variant of the feed of chips to digesters is revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,744,004, in which the chips mixture is instead fed to the digester through several pumps arranged in series. In this case, pumps of the type known as DISCFLO™ are used. One disadvantage of this system is that this type of pump typically has a low pumping efficiency.
In the Handbook of Pulp mentioned earlier, a variant of the pumped feed of chips mixture known as TurboFeed™ is shown on Page 382. Three pumps are here arranged in series for the feed of the chips mixture to the digester. This type of feed has been patented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,075, U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,668, U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,890, U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,993 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,462; although in several cases U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,088, for example, has not been considered.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,075 concerns pumping from a steam pre-treatment vessel to a treatment vessel, and it is revealed in this case that an eductor-jet pump can be inserted before the first centrifugal pump, as is shown in FIG. 3, reference number 70.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,668 specifically concerns the addition of AQ/PS during pumping. U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,890 concerns at least two pumps arranged in series where these pumps are arranged at ground level.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,993 concerns a detailed solution in which not only are chemicals added in order to dissolve metals from the chips, but also is fluid withdrawn after each pump in order to reduce the metal content in the pumped chips.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,462 concerns in practice the same system as that already revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,088. Helical screw pumps or axial pumps of Hydrostal type are used in these systems, and this does not give the same head of pressure as centrifugal pumps of radial type. This may be one reason that it is necessary to install several pumps in series.
One major disadvantage of these systems that have several pumps arranged in series is limited availability. If one pump fails, the complete digester plant must stop production. With three pumps in series and a normal availability for each pump of 0.95, the total availability of the complete system will be only 0.86 (0.95×0.95×0.95=0.86). Systems with parallel pumped feed have therefore been developed, as is shown in, for example, the following patent applications: SE0800644, SE0800645, SE0800646, SE0800647 and SE0800648.
Pump feed, however, places heavy demands on the pumps and the wear is high, since the chips that are pumped have a blasting effect on the impeller vanes of the pump. It is desired also to reduce pressure drop in the inlet line to the pump as much as possible, such that the subsequent pump can establish maximal pressure.
A first purpose of the invention is to obtain an improved feed system for chips in which the optimal pressurisation can be established with a centrifugal pump. It is preferable that this centrifugal pump be a pump of diagonal or radial type.
Other purposes are to reduce pressure losses in the pump inlet and to reduce wear on the pump.
The purposes described above are achieved with a system and through a method of the present invention.
The system according to the invention is intended for the pumping of finely divided cellulose material to a continuous digester where the cellulose material is fed continuously to the top of the digester and is fed out from the bottom of the digester after delignification in the digester. The finely divided cellulose material is formed to a slurry in at least a first vessel or standpipe of a suitable type, from which the slurried cellulose material is fed out through a first outlet pipe that has a first internal diameter and that is arranged at the bottom of the first vessel. By arranging a second outlet pipe that has a second internal diameter concentrically around the first outlet pipe, a chamber is formed around the first outlet pipe. This chamber is closed by an end wall in the first vessel in the vicinity of the end, and it has an opening at the opposite end, and where the second outlet pipe is connected to an inlet of a pump. The chamber is further provided with inlets for the continuous addition of fluid to the chamber.
It is appropriate that the second outlet pipe overlap the first inlet pipe in the longitudinal direction along a stretch that defines the axial length of the chamber. This stretch is adapted such that a film of fluid can be established with a flow that is parallel to the flow of cellulose material.
In order to ensure the establishment of a continuous film of fluid, it is appropriate that the chamber be provided with a distributor for the addition of fluid at several positions around the periphery of the chamber. This distributor may be constituted by, for example, a number of inlets distributed across the periphery of the end wall. Alternatively, the inlets may be arranged on the outer surface of the second outlet pipe, close to the end wall of the chamber.
In order to establish a film of fluid that is maintained to the inlet of the pump, it is appropriate that the second outlet pipe be given a second internal diameter that is larger than the internal diameter of the first outlet pipe such that the chamber obtains a thickness between 1 and 20 centimeters. A lower thickness may be appropriate for small pipe dimensions and short stretches between the first vessel for the formation of the slurry of the cellulose material and the pump. In an application in which the internal diameter of the first outlet pipe has an internal diameter of 40 centimeters, the second outlet pipe may have an internal diameter of 42-45 centimeters.
Also the end wall of the chamber may, in an alternative embodiment, be fixed arranged at one of the pipes, for example the second outlet pipe, and make contact in a sealing manner with the second pipe, for example the outer surface of the first pipe, through a flexible seal, preferably a packing box seal. The design can absorb also a certain degree of obliqueness between the pipes through the use of such a point connection.
The method concerns the pumping of finely divided cellulose material to a continuous digester where the cellulose material is fed continuously to the top of the digester and is fed out from the bottom of the digester after delignification in the digester. The finely divided cellulose material is first formed to a slurry in at least a first vessel and is fed out in a rod-shaped flow of cellulose material towards a pump. The characteristic of the method is that fluid in the form of a cylindrical film of fluid is added around the rod-shaped flow of cellulose material before the rod-shaped flow of cellulose material reaches the inlet to the pump.
It has turned out to be the case, surprisingly, that the cellulose material that is fed out from an impregnation vessel retains its rod-shaped flow due to the reinforcing effects of the cellulose material. It is therefore possible to add fluid in the form of a cylindrical film LL of fluid around the rod-shaped flow PF of cellulose material before this flow reaches the inlet to the pump. The rod-shaped flow of cellulose material typically has a concentration, calculated as weight of wood added at the preceding slurrification vessel, in the range 60-100%, and during continuous operation in certain applications the concentration may be 98%.
It is preferable that the addition of fluid take place in such a manner that the thickness of the cylindrical film of fluid lies within the range 1-20 centimeters, and that this film of fluid is maintained surrounding the rod-shaped flow of cellulose material up to the inlet of the pump. A small degree of dispersal and mixing may take place at the interface between the film of fluid and the flow of cellulose material, but the film of fluid is maintained essentially intact along the inner surface of the pipe right up until the inlet to the pump.
A lubricating and protective film of fluid is in this way established that reduces the pressure drop in the lines leading to the pump. Wear in the pump is at the same time reduced, and a maximal pressure build up in the pump can be established. It is appropriate that a pressure be established in the film of fluid that is equal to or greater than the pressure in the flow of cellulose material.